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Man facing 120-year sentence for firing gun free

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JACKSONVILLE — A Jacksonville man who was facing a 120-year sentence for firing two shots that caused no injuries is now a free man.

The Florida Times-Union reports that 58-year-old Randal Ratledge was sentenced Friday to 117 days in jail and received credit for 117 days he’s already served.

Ratledge had been charged with six counts of aggravated assault after a 2012 incident involving his neighbors. Authorities said Rutledge fired shots in the air and screamed profanities at the six neighbors. Under Florida’s 10-20-Life law, anyone convicted of a crime involving the firing of a gun gets a prison sentence of at least 20 years.

But jurors acquitted Ratledge of two of the charges and reduced the other four to misdemeanors. Then a judge combined the four misdemeanors to one count of improper exhibition of a firearm.